The Cane Spider is a species of big spiders found in many tropical regions of the world. These spiders do not spin a web, but are nocturnal, hunting for food at night in crop fields, patiently waiting, and finally, jumping on the prey. Its flat body is an adaptation to help it fit in tree cracks and under barks easily. These arachnids are so large that they have been known to even prey on scorpions and bats.
Size: 2 to 2½ cm (0.8 to 1 inch) in length, and 7 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) in width, including the legs.
Color: Brown body with dark spots on all the eight legs and fine black patterns on the back of the abdomen.
Other Characteristic Features: The body (abdomen) region is flat. Their eyes are set in two rows, while the legs are long and hairy.
During the season of mating and reproduction, the males display a courtship behavior by producing a vibration, which is faintly audible to human ears like a humming or buzzing sound. While doing this, they keep vibrating the abdomen with their feet firmly planted on the ground.
The female cane develops an egg sac which is usually around 2.5 cm in width. The mother carries it with its pedipalps, holding it under its body while moving from place to place. However, the sacs can well vary in size. A small sac normally contains over 100 eggs, while the larger ones can hold more than 400.
The young juveniles go through their first molting process while still in the sac. As the cane spider babies emerge, they are protected by the mother spider until they are large enough to forage for themselves.
Though the venom of this species of spider contains a potent toxin named HpTX2, which is a potassium channel blocker and can kill insects easily, it is not considered dangerous to humans. However, it does inject enough venom to inflict a painful bite. The bite is small and usually does not result in any kind of long term problems.
| Other Names | Giant crab spider |
| Lifespan | A small laboratory sample showed the longevity of the male averaging to 465 days, and the female averaged to 580 |
| Distribution | Found in USA’s Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Georgia, California, on all the Hawaiian Islands, as also, in Southeast Asia, Australia and the Caribbean |
| Habitat | Especially in the sugar cane fields, but also avocado and banana groves, forests, taking shelter in tree holes and under the bark |
| Common predators | Large reptiles, birds of prey, and some mammals including dogs and cats (depending upon their range) |
| Diet | Insects mostly different species of butterflies and moths, as well as other creatures like cockroaches and silverfish; |
Image Credits: Thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com, Everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com, Live.staticflickr.com, I.pinimg.com,
Webewwoofing.files.wordpress.com
The Cane Spider is a species of big spiders found in many tropical regions of the world. These spiders do not spin a web, but are nocturnal, hunting for food at night in crop fields, patiently waiting, and finally, jumping on the prey. Its flat body is an adaptation to help it fit in tree cracks and under barks easily. These arachnids are so large that they have been known to even prey on scorpions and bats.
Size: 2 to 2½ cm (0.8 to 1 inch) in length, and 7 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) in width, including the legs.
Color: Brown body with dark spots on all the eight legs and fine black patterns on the back of the abdomen.
Other Characteristic Features: The body (abdomen) region is flat. Their eyes are set in two rows, while the legs are long and hairy.
During the season of mating and reproduction, the males display a courtship behavior by producing a vibration, which is faintly audible to human ears like a humming or buzzing sound. While doing this, they keep vibrating the abdomen with their feet firmly planted on the ground.
The female cane develops an egg sac which is usually around 2.5 cm in width. The mother carries it with its pedipalps, holding it under its body while moving from place to place. However, the sacs can well vary in size. A small sac normally contains over 100 eggs, while the larger ones can hold more than 400.
The young juveniles go through their first molting process while still in the sac. As the cane spider babies emerge, they are protected by the mother spider until they are large enough to forage for themselves.
Though the venom of this species of spider contains a potent toxin named HpTX2, which is a potassium channel blocker and can kill insects easily, it is not considered dangerous to humans. However, it does inject enough venom to inflict a painful bite. The bite is small and usually does not result in any kind of long term problems.
| Other Names | Giant crab spider |
| Lifespan | A small laboratory sample showed the longevity of the male averaging to 465 days, and the female averaged to 580 |
| Distribution | Found in USA’s Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Georgia, California, on all the Hawaiian Islands, as also, in Southeast Asia, Australia and the Caribbean |
| Habitat | Especially in the sugar cane fields, but also avocado and banana groves, forests, taking shelter in tree holes and under the bark |
| Common predators | Large reptiles, birds of prey, and some mammals including dogs and cats (depending upon their range) |
| Diet | Insects mostly different species of butterflies and moths, as well as other creatures like cockroaches and silverfish; |
Image Credits: Thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com, Everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com, Live.staticflickr.com, I.pinimg.com,
Webewwoofing.files.wordpress.com
